Tuesday, June 7, 2016

A snapshot of a peaceful summer afternoon

Life is stressful. In class we often talk about topics that hurt my heart and leave questions clamoring around in my head, begging for an answer although a concrete one can't be found at the moment. It's summer time though and NoVA is so beautiful! As I was driving home from school today, the clouds were creating giant castles in the sky, taunting me with their beauty, so I decided to walk down to the little pond near my house for a picnic. I'd rather show you how it was then tell you, so read along and try to imagine you are here! I promise you'll leave feeling refreshed and peaceful. :)

The warmth of the sun on our shoulders as we walk towards the pond is pleasant and light. Passing the neighborhood pool on our right, we hear the squeals of delight from the little kids splashing around, enjoying their afternoon swim. The whole neighborhood has that lazy afternoon feeling about it, but you can sense that it'll start to bustle too soon with everyone coming home from a long day at work. After leisurely crossing the currently deserted street, we have arrived!

There's a little black squirrel bounding across the grass as we sit down on the bench in front of the water. A curious little Robin alights nearby, bobbing up and down as it walks around us. The pond itself is surrounded by towering trees that are various shades of deep green which contrast nicely with the light blue sky and giant, white, puffy clouds.

You can see the leaves of the trees across the way starting to ripple in a breeze that hasn't reached us yet. Before you know it, the canopy of leaves above us, shielding us from the sun, starts to whisper and rustle. Have you noticed that each tree sounds different in the wind? The greenish blue water of the pond is changing too, as mini waves gently land on the rocky dirt at our feet.

Gazing at the water, we notice the shadow of a bird above. We look up to see a brown and white falcon! Two ravens appear at that same moment and silently shepherd the falcon away from their nest which must be hidden somewhere nearby. As the birds disappear, our eyes are caught again by the clouds as they pass across the sky. Each one is different. Some of them are massive and impressive, with towers and pockets and too many shades of white and grey to count. The other ones are small, just a puff of white, but their beauty is still too marked to let them pass by unobserved.

Another bird silently wings its way above us, and look! It's a heron! There's so much to see here. I decide to close my eyes for a minute so I can soak up all the sounds around us and concentrate on the feeling of the wind as it dances on my skin. There is the faintest hum of cars in the distance. One or two drives by behind us. Some sort of bug buzzes next to my ear for a second and is gone. Little birds chirp and twitter back and forth to each other. The wind gently shakes the leaves. A fish or two tries to grab a bug off the top of the water and makes that plopping sound.

It's easy to breathe here.